Following the announcement by the U.S. Armed Forces Defence Intelligence Company that the Russian Aerospace Forces have begun to introduce nuclear-tipped air-to-air missiles into service, the likelihood has emerged of the nation integrating comparable warheads onto missiles utilized by its lengthy ranged air defence programs. It’s broadly anticipated that the air-to-air missile which is able to combine the nuclear warhead will probably be a brand new variant of the R-37M, which when fired from excessive speeds and altitudes by MiG-31BM interceptors can interact targets 400 kilometres away carrying a 61 kilogram warhead. The missile achieves such a efficiency whereas travelling at Mach 6 speeds, which is significantly quicker than the Mach 4-4.5 speeds which are widespread for different air-to-air missile courses.
The combination of nuclear warheads offers an a variety of benefits for lengthy vary focusing on, together with permitting a single missile to wipe out massive swarms of drones, cruise missiles, and even enemy fighters. The necessity to forestall MiG-31 interceptors from being overwhelmed by large salvoes of nuclear-tipped cruise missiles fired by American bombers was a key motive why their R-33 air-to-air missiles had been tipped with nuclear warheads from 1981, earlier than these missiles had been faraway from service after the top of the Chilly Struggle. Nuclear-tipped missiles don’t require the identical ranges of precision as these with smaller explosive yields, permitting them to efficiently interact targets that might in any other case be tough to hit because of their stealth capabilities or excessive speeds with out necessities to keep up the identical high quality of focusing on lock.
Offering a ground-launched counterpart to the R-37M, the 40N6 surface-to-air missile started to be built-in onto Russian S-400 lengthy vary air defence programs within the late 2010s, extending their focusing on ranges from 250 to 400 kilometres. The missiles profit from Mach 14 speeds, and use focusing on information from supporting property similar to MiG-31s or A-50 airborne early warning and management plane (AEW&Cs) for over the horizon steering. They observe a singular trajectory, ascending to excessive altitudes earlier than descending in the direction of their targets, whereas retaining a capability to neutralise them close to the boundaries as little as 5 meters off the bottom. The missiles will also be used to strike floor targets. Stories of the missiles’ use within the Ukrainian theatre started to floor in late 2023. 40N6 missiles are used significantly extra broadly within the Russian Armed Forces than the R-37, and will a variant with a nuclear warhead enter service it might considerably improve the fight potential of the S-400 programs deploying them. The implications of this are significantly vital because of Russia’s a lot better reliance on floor based mostly air defence programs than on fighters or interceptors for the defence of its airspace, as a result of former’s a lot decrease operational prices and perceived better value effectiveness for such roles.
The S-400 was developed to offer a functionality to intercept superior stealth plane, and makes use of a number of networked radars working in several wavebands to offer better ranges of situational consciousness. The system’s capacity to threaten stealth plane may very well be elevated considerably by the mixing of a nuclear-tipped variant of the 40N6. The inducement to pursue such a program may very well be elevated by the Untied States’ growth of latest generations of fight jets with superior stealth capabilities, together with the F-47 and F/A-XX sixth technology fighters and the B-21 bomber. The system’s utility towards strategic assaults, together with intermediate vary ballistic missile strikes, is also improved considerably, as may its capacity to intercept hypersonic area planes such because the SR-72 that are presently beneath growth in the US. Past the S-400, the 40N6 can also be utilized by the newer S-500 lengthy vary air defence system, in addition to the extra cell S-300V4 system. The missile can also be anticipated to be built-in onto the Russian Navy’s Admiral Gorshkov Class frigates. Nuclear-tipped surface-to-air missiles had been broadly fielded within the Chilly Struggle by each the US and the united states, from the American Nike Hercules to the Soviet V-880MN/5V28MN missiles on the S-200 system, with Russia’s operationalisation of a nuclear-tipped air-to-air missile probably marking a major first step in the direction of their return. Russia’s rising lag in its fighter and bomber capabilities relative to NATO has supplied a rising incentive to hunt to spend money on such capabilities for an uneven defence.
